Natasha Sanchez works with Lumen prints and shows us how to make a dreamlike lumen print creation.

A lumen print is essentially a solar photogram – a camera-less process involving black and white photographic paper, a subject matter that usually (but not always) consists of an organic material, and of course, the most important element – The Sun. In truth, a UV source is what is needed, but I find the natural factors involving The Sun create dynamic images.

Materials needed

Black & White Photo Paper – RC or Fiber based. Its best to experiment with fiber based papers to find the one best suited for your image, as different emulsions create different color combinations

An easel or board to set the paper on

Glass to cover the subject. **Fun Fact: If you use a piece of glass smaller than the paper size, you get a nice “frame” effect.**

I taped down the paper because it came off of a roll so it’s really curly. The paper is slightly larger than 5×7, so I arranged my subjects knowing that I will cut the paper to that size.

1Arrange Your Subject on the paper. I used an azalea picked from my neighborhood. I then trimmed the leaves and stems, carefully placing them to help frame the flower. The metallic stars were simply scattered around the azalea. Sometimes I take the time to arrange the stars in a particular composition, depending on my subject and desired effect. This is an RC Paper.

2Cover with glass and place outside. Again, composition is important here. Watch how ‘the petals fall’ as you place the glass over the subject. Sometimes they curl down and that will show up in the print.

3Monitor. I tend to watch over the print as its printing. Sometimes, if I’m very very careful, I will peel back a petal or leaf to see how well exposed it is. I also check for condensation, which gives me an idea of how the water content from the subject will spread onto the paper. This step isn’t necessary, but if you use the same paper at the same times of day, in the same season, it becomes easier to gauge exposure times. I also check to see if anything has wilted (strong southern sun), which may also affect the print. Here you can see how the water content has spread by noticing the darker portions of the paper. It also has to do with how the paper is taped down and the direction of the sun.

Lumen print before fixer.

4Fix & Wash. Now that the print has been developed by The Sun, its time to bring it inside and remove the subject from the paper. The print is placed into a fixer bath, which bleaches the print, then washed. I use the standard fixing/washing times for RC or fiber based paper, depending on which I’m using.

Lumen print in fixer bath.

5Finished Print Voila! This print I exposed for approx 3 hours in the middle of the day. Because the petals were layered, and the leaves were fresh, (less dense), I wanted to achieve as much detail as possible.

Lumen Printing Tips

While the lumen print process is pretty straightforward – arrange your subject on paper, under glass, and place in the sun — things aren’t always what they seem. (Much like the print this process creates!) It is actually an involved process. Below are some printing tips.

Think of The Sun as your enlarger

Is it a “condenser head” (bright cloudless sunny day) or is it a “diffused head” (cloudy, patches of sun) – You will get more detail and contrast with a bright sunny day. A cloudy day requires more time, but gives your subject a nice, soft, quality. Determine what you print with these thoughts in mind.

Timing – time of day, year, strength of sun – your exposure times will vary depending on these solar factors.

I print anywhere from 30 minutes to 6 hours. Here in New Orleans, Louisiana the sun is super strong in the summer. If I make a lumen print in the summertime, I make sure to do it in the morning hours. Or, if only the late afternoon hours are available to me, I use subjects and papers that take less time. **Fun Fact: To get the most out of my morning exposure, sometimes I set the print out the night before so that it will start printing as soon as the sun comes up.**

Density/water content of objects – plants and flowers have a water content that spills out onto the paper giving the print more texture and richness

Some flowers are easier to print than others. Flowers with “thin” petals may not be able to stand too much sun, while flowers with “thicker” petals may require more sunlight to gain more detail in the print. Leaves tend to be Very Dense, however, and fresher is better. Be aware of how dense the leaf is in comparison to your flower (if you are using flowers). A super dense leaf may not expose all the way and the resulting bright spot can sometimes be distracting.

Composition – Yes, composition plays a big part in the making of a lumen print.

Trimming leaves, stems, and petals will help you set up the arrangement, giving you more control on the layout. The placement on the paper is important too. All the compositional rules, guidelines, apply in lumen printing.

Experiment

This process began as an experiment, and there’s no reason to stop!

Natasha Sanchez is a photographer & songwriter from New Orleans who works in liquid emulsions and lumens and handpaints her work.

Fabio Giorgi gives us a brief overview on how to combine two processes: Chemigrams and Lumen prints, or possibly three, since he is using cyanotype chemistry for the chemigram.

A classic cyanotype.

What about mixing together lumen-prints, chemigrams, silver nitrate, or a cyanotype sensitizer… Sounds weird? I agree, but the results can be quite rewarding.

This is what may happen when you end a cyanotype printing session with some sensitizer left unused, a pack of fogged photographic paper and, mainly, if the “What if…” pops up without warning.

Chemilumen: Chemigram and lumen print with ferric ammonium citrate.

The process is simple. Brush the paper and immediately expose it, still wet, to sunlight, fix and wash.

In all tests the paper used was a fogged Kentmere VC Select RC paper, exposed 60 minutes under bright sunlight. UV index of 4. Fixing was done in a plain 5% hypo solution and the final wash was 5 minutes long in running water.

With silver nitrate 1-2%.

Before fixing, a 3% hydrogen peroxide bath helps to lessen the effects of alkaline nature of the fixer.

The reaction of the citrate with the silver in the paper makes the image very much similar to a Van Dyke brown.

With a low concentration silver nitrate solution the result is a salted paper look alike.

With silver nitrate 10%

Perhaps due to the excess of silver, after fixing, some metalic silver patches can be seen on the top right hand side of the image.

Plenty of room here to test with papers, time and toning..

Fabio Giorgi – A lawyer that after 25 years of legal practice had the chance to see the light again, of a life long passion in photography.

Fabio Giorgi has found a way of making negatives as lumen prints.

Probably one of the major drawbacks of most alternative photography processes is that each print made cannot be exactly reproduced. This is especially true when it comes to Lumen Prints. The only way to get more than one of any print is to scan it and then make as many copies as you like, but that is, perhaps, a bit away from the philosophy behind alt photo practice – not to mention the ever present temptation to digitally “better” the image.

With that in mind, and after witnessing two of my friends argue over who would buy one of my lumens, I decided to try an idea I had in store for some time.

Assuming that photographic paper and film are basically materials coated with a photosensitive emulsion, there would not be any problem in using with film the same steps used to make a lumen print and, by that creating a Lumen Negative.

After cutting some frames in a black cardboard paper and picking up some plant parts, I used a Kodacolor 200 to make a first test. (If you want to give it a try, be sure not to forget a pair of tweezers, it gets very hard sometimes to place small leaves over a 35mm frame.)

The film strip was exposed 25 minutes to direct sunlight and immediately fixed, with constant and gentle agitation, for other 5 minutes. The fixer was diluted 1:2. (Although Kodacolor is C-41 process film, I used a general purpose black and white fixer.)

The prints were made by a commercial lab.

The whole thing is pretty easy and I don’t know if this has ever been tried before, (at least not in the internet), but I believe there’s plenty of room to experiment with other types of films and toning techniques.

Fabio Giorgi is a lawyer that after 25 years of legal practice had the chance to see the light again, of a life long passion in photography.

Sarah Lycksten shows us how to have fun with photography – exploring and experimenting with new techniques!

Take a black/white photo paper, put a piece of plant, flower or something else organic on top and finish off with a piece of glass. Leave in the sun for half an hour or why not when you go to work and you’ve got something to look forward to when you come home.

Bring your photo-sandwich inside and rinse of any organic bits, put in fixer. You will find the image changing rapidly in the fixer and usually get a pleasant surprise when you look at it in normal light. Rinse and you should have an archival image as long as you’
ve taken care to not leave any organic residue that would make the image deteriorate eventually.

Sounds simple, and it is, but there’s a lot more you can do with it.

Composition is important. You will benefit from trimming your plants to make out more detail.

You can also experiment with putting stuff on the glass, partially coat it with paint, foodstuffs or place items on top, like a shadowgram. Use tape at the edges to create a border.

Wet the paper before you put the plant on and you will get a darker image with more detail in the subject.

Or just spray the plant with water before you put it on the paper but make sure you get it in the right position straight away because the damp areas will show in the final picture, unless that’
s what you are after.

It is a technique that puts you in the hands of chance and the fact that every image will be unique. So many factors affect the final image like air humidity, uv-factor, the subject’
s humidity, temperature etc. But you can alter the exposure in some ways dodging or burning in parts of the image with a magnifying glass, although it will take a bit longer than with your usual darkroom print.

It works well with most papers, especially old brands. Different papers give various colors.

A great way of using up old fogged papers.

Handcoated papers work well to, and a fantastic way of using up old liquid emulsion that might be fogged. Liquid emulsion gives brilliant colors from bright yellow to purple and orange!

Take care not to leave in too strong heat for too long. The heat will melt the emulsion. I usually leave them on the balcony but not in direct sunlight.

If when you come to fixing your image, you find the paper has stuck to the glass, just spray the back of the paper with water, if you can’
t soak the whole thing, and it should come loose.

When you have your final print you can always reverse it. Use your Lumenprint as a negative and put face to face on top of an unexposed paper and expose it.

You can tone or bleach it.

Using negatives instead of flowers you need a negative with lots of detail and contrast. It will give a very soft image with a surreal feel to it.

Like this pinhole picture by the sea turned into something more resembling a desert landscape.

If Lumen prints seem interesting to you take a look at Jerry Burchfield’
s website jerryburchfield.com and you will be hooked!

Marek Matusz gives us a brief overview of an old camera-less process.

Black and white photographic papers are used in this process. Some have reported that old, outdated papers work best. This might have to do with age of papers, but also with the emulsion types available years ago, but no longer manufactured.

In any event dig into your photo storage and take those forgotten 20 years old, fogged papers. Have fun with them. Both exposure and development are done with the UV light and sun is the best source.

Place a plant cutting on the paper and leave it in the sun for hours. My exposures vary from about 30 minutes to 4 hours. I place a piece of glass to slightly flatten the plant cutting. In the heat of the summer the photographic paper will get moist in the area of contact with the plant. That is one of the important aspects of producing color shifts. As the exposure progresses the paper will darken.

Papers

Development – none!

After exposure I soak the print for a few minutes in water and then tone if needed. Gold and platinum toners work best for me. I fix in a dilute solution of ammonium thiosulfate. The print will bleach considerably at this point. Toning, especially gold toning helps preserve the delicate colors of the original. Wash the print according to B&W archival standards and admire your artwork.

See it before you buy?

A copy of the book can bee seen at William Morris Hunt Memorial Library at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

About the book

Alternative Photography: Art and Artists, Edition I highlights the work of over 100 of today’s most active photographers working with alternative processes. Discover how the different processes create a unique look in a print, and get an insight into how the processes function. Here you will find both information and inspiration. Artists introduce themselves, their work and why they chose the qualities of that particular process.

From the introduction:

Today, when we have the technology to take the "perfect" photograph, freezing a moment exactly as it is, and are able to print it in minutes, many photographers take a step into the world of alternative processes. It may be out of curiosity of how the chemistry can bind a moment of time to the fibers in the paper. It may be out of the joy of making something by hand, from start to finish. It may be the delight in seeing an image emerging on paper floating in the developer bath. Or, it may be that a specific process embodies a unique texture, enhancing the idea or expression of the artist. The reasons for choosing to work in a specific alternative process are many and varied, but whatever the reason is, the journey there is often an enriching experience.

The interest in this book was bigger than I could have dreamt of. Over half of the artists represented on AlternativePhotography.com have participated (at the time of printing). Over 14 Gigabytes of pixels have been downloaded over the wires, in almost 1000 emails. I am now on a first name basis with the postman (postwoman actually!), who turned up with stacks of letters every day, especially in the last two weeks before the deadline.

Each of the artists here has included a little about themselves, their work and their choice of process. The images are a great inspiration. A wide variety of processes, concepts and ideas can be found here. To me, that too is pure inspiration, and that is the purpose of this book – to inspire.

About the editor

Malin Fabbri grew up in Sweden. She moved to London in her early twenties to study Design, English and Photography. Whilst earning an M.A. in Design studies at Central St. Martin’s School of Design, London, she discovered alternative photography, and wrote her thesis on the subject.

Finishing her degree and publishing her thesis felt more like a beginning than an end to Malin. She decided to combine her academic and practical experience and create a website. AlternativePhotography.com includes all alternative photographic processes in use by artists today. The website still maintains its origins as a source of information and research for alternative photographic processes.

Malin actively manages the expansion of the site as editor, and is an avid photographer herself. She makes her own alternative process prints and runs workshops. She is the co-author of Blueprint to cyanotypes – Exploring a historical alternative photographic process. Malin lives and works in Stockholm with her husband, Gary, and their son, Maximillian.

Feedback on "Art and Artists"

"The only published resource of its kind, Alternative Photography: Art and Artists, Edition I represents the forefront of a worldwide movement of individuals who have retaken control of photographic printing and imagery. The vibrant re-emergence of the laboratory/wet processing subculture alongside the digital darkroom is set to influence aesthetic and critical sensibilities throughout the art world. The art and artists series has come at precisely the right moment."

– Paul Daskarolis, Editor, Siderotype Quarterly

"I got my book, and it’s such a wonderful resource for when I teach alternative processes!"

– Nancy A. Breslin

"WOW! Nicely done. The book has inspired me to try other alternative process photography."

-Jane Linders

"I look forward to using this excellent book as a source of inspiration for my advanced photography students."

"I bought the book and its great. It’s a different experience to look at pictures in your hand then looking at them on a web site. My students have really enjoyed the book as well. It’s a fine product."

Chris Peregoy, Teacher of photography, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)

"You did a wonderful job! You end your newsletter with "get inspired", well, all though I do my alternative processes for many years, I’m truly inspired by it."

-Jan van Leeuwen, photographer

"It exceeded my expectations, Thanks!"

– Suzanne Guinee, photographer

"I really like the variety of content and the photographs are reproduced at a nice size for viewing. I do like the book very much and will use it as a reference in addition to the website to become inspired."

– Mike Shipman, photographer

"The concept and content are exceptional. You have brought together both the technical description and the personal motivation of each artist working in a particular alt process. The styles of work represented, from traditional to experimental and everything in between, mixed within every conceivable process. I feel the book will become an important resource in our field (and for anyone with an interest in photographs), where else can you see this much work in so many different processes, working styles and get personal insight from each artist about their work."

– Edward Carpenter, Photographer

"While nothing beats seeing the work in real life the book provides an excellent resource for all of us in terms of the variety and depth of work being done in alternative processes."

– Hamish Stewart, photographer

"It’s not only beautifully produced with high quality reproductions of the images and a clean layout, but is filled with a panoply of alternative processes, some of which I’ve never seen before. A truly inspiring book and a great resource."

– Wendy Currie, photographic artist & workshop teacher

"The layout and design of the book is very presentable. It is good to see what other photographers are doing with thee processes and the standard of work, they are achieving."

– Lynette Zeeng, Photographer/Lecturer

"I am a collector of first edition books and will only purchase the book if it qualifies with the standards below in the text, believe me yours does! I was very worried when you talked about on demand printing but was pleasantly surprised when the books arrived."

– Dennis da Silva, Director and owner, Silvertone

"I have really enjoyed the book, and I will be showing it to students when I teach alternative processes. The layout and cover are clean and professional, and the variety and overall quality of work inside is so high."

– Nancy Breslin, Art Instructor, University of Delaware

"The book is an absolute credit to you. I am impressed with the layout – the quality of the printing and the reproduction of the book"

– Ellie Young, Photographer, Gold Street Studios

"I was really surprised and happy about the picture quality of the print and to see so much and excelent photography from all the artists. All in all: I have the book, I’m happy, facinated, inspired and would like to thank you for all this great work!"

– Tobias Ott

"It is a beautiful book, very nicely done and one to be quite proud of. It is a great sampling of artists."

-Kathy Wismer

"Impressive range of work, and a welcome sampling from many countries. It is an inspiring book."

– Nick Klimaszewski

"I love the book. It is a wonderful thing you have made for the world. What an undertaking and may it be a success. You rock girl."

– Crystal Jackson, Photographer

"I finally got a copy of the beautiful Arts and Artist coffee table book. It is most elegant and very unique. The quality is superior and of course the contents are marvlous! It does inspire, and with that, Congratulations to you and everyone who made this huge project possible. Great job!!! Rated 10 of 10."

– Allan Razo

"Art and Artists is an excellent summary of the work of practitioners of alternative processes."

– Gene Bagdonas

"The gallery on the website is such a useful source of information about the work of alternative photographers, but the work really needs to be on paper. And on the bookshelf, as a reference."

– Robert Hoare

"Very unique book, as a teacher my students love it and derive great inspiration from it. It encourages them to experiment and push the limits of conventional photography and also to get back into the darkroom and produce unique work."